GREAT MOMENTS IN STRAT
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THE WHITE SOX’ GREATEST SEASON
I
played a computer season of the 1964 White Sox, using the As Played lineups,
and had some great pitching seasons that fell short of history in September.
The White Sox finished the season 109-53, seven games ahead of the Orioles
(with Boog Powell finishing one RBI short of the Triple Crown).
The Sox had six pitchers with
double-figure wins, led by Gary Peters, who went from 9-8 on July 9th to finish
the season at 21-10 with a 2.06 ERA. Juan Pizarro was 9-0 with a 2.46 ERA
on June 21, and finished at 18-5 and 3.03. Hoyt Wilhelm on Aug. 1 was 7-3
with 22 saves and a 1.08 ERA – he finished at 12-6, 33 saves, and a 1.94.
But the pitching story of the
season was Joel Horlen. On June 12, he was 6-0 with a minuscule 0.15 ERA (1
earned run in 58 2/3 innings). As late as Aug. 26, he was 13-3 with an ERA
of 0.94 through 172 2/3 innings. Unfortunately, my visions of Bob Gibson
went by the wayside, as Horlen finished 17-5 with a still-stellar 1.65 ERA.
Curt Blood,
AN EX-YANKEE SPOILS A YANKEE FAN’S DREAM
Playing
a computer 1967 replay, I thought I was going to have my first no-hitter in my
43 years of playing Start. But alas, it was not to be. My weak-hitting Yanks
against the Cleveland Indians. I managed to get Horace Clarke to steal second
and move to third on Tom Tresh’s sac bunt. Mickey Mantle, gimp knees and all, then
sent one to the fence for a sac-fly RBI. This is in the top of the ninth inning
and I just noticed that Mel Stottlemyre has a no-hitter going. He gets the
first two batters to ground out. The Tribe manager decides to bring in Moose
Skowron as a pinch hitter. Lo and behold, he hits a shot to Rueben Amaro, my 3
shortstop. No! It goes through for a single! Agg! So close, no cigar! I think I
am the only one playing Strat (for so long) not to have a no-hitter.
Alan L. Dehn,
TALES OF THE HAMMER (No, Not That One)
Several
years ago, I decided to replay the 1997 Tigers season on the computer.
I can't recall the opponent, but
in one game, Bob Hamelin hit a game-tying home run in the 9th inning, followed
by a walk-off homerun in the 10th. In the very next game, I brought in Bob
Hamelin as a pinch-hitter and he hit a game-tying home run again. The game
remained tied until the 15th inning, when Hamelin hit yet another walk-off
homer. So, in back-to-back games, Bob Hamelin hit both game-tying and
game-winning homeruns. And in the second game, he didn't even appear until the
10th inning.
Tim
MY PERFECT SON
Today,
my son was something I have never been and may never be. He was perfect.
While
I was out doing the grocery shopping, he finished his school assignments, then
got back to a 2001 short season four-team, 24-game, tournament/season he
recently started. My son has always loved going to Mariners game with me over
the years. He's not an athletic
type. And he’s never really been focused
on the strategy side. He does, however, have a fair grasp (as much as many
players, anyway) of the Infield Fly Rule, as well as a sharp mind for mathematics.
I have been playing one game each night with him as his guest opponent and have
been finding it astonishing that the Yankees could have ever been
Today,
when I got home, he was waiting for me.
“Wait’ll
you see what Mike Mussina did today,” he said, teasingly.
“Okay,
he probably beat the Mariners," I was thinking. When I skipper the Yanks, Mariano Rivera
gives up three-run ninth-inning homers to John Olerud and loses.
I
glanced at the line score.
“Moose
threw a no-hitter, huh?” I responded.
“He
threw a perfect game!” my son exclaimed.
“Look.”
I
looked down again, scanning the neat columns, every one of them in groups of
three. Twenty-seven in a row. Nine games into his first-ever real attempt
to tackle Strat-O-Matic, my son had found perfection.
“Aww-w-w-w-w,
man! I've never had a perfect game!” I moaned, plaintively.
I’ve
had two no-hitters, my celebrated Smokey Joe Wood one-hitter, but I've never
been perfect.
Jeff Woodhouse, Seattle